Sitton, who began serving Lubbock in elective office in 1994 as a council member and then as mayor in 1997, has compiled a lengthy list of accomplishments that occurred during her reign, citing the Ports-to-Plains highway's receiving state and federal designation as her legacy.

That really was a surprise because many would have placed her negotiating and finally completing the Lake Alan Henry mineral rights settlement one-on-one with Bert Fields at the top of the list.

She will be the first to tell you that one person alone did none of the projects that occurred during her tenure, and she is quick to spread the credit around to others who were instrumental in moving Lubbock forward.

In fact, during the announcement last Wednesday when she informed her friends and media that she would not seek re-election, she said, "Coalition-building is the only way that we have met so much success."

Bringing people together in an attempt to move Lubbock and West Texas forward, in truth, may be her greatest legacy.

When Sitton took the gavel as the city's first female mayor, this community was flopping around in its famous winds.

More than once, Lubbock voters had told city leaders that they did not want an economic development sales tax. The federal government was shuttering Reese Air Force Base. The Texas Instruments plant in North Lubbock was about be to closed. South Plains agriculture, long the largest business in West Texas, was facing (and still is) economic disaster.

The City Council had just created Market Lubbock, Inc., to address those problems in the year before she ascended to the center chair on the Council dais, and not everyone in this community agreed with that action.

Even today, Market Lubbock has its detractors. However, according to the mayor, this public-private business coalition has created an estimated $211.7 million in new investment and 5,085 new jobs with an estimated payroll of $114.5 million per year. In addition, according to Sitton, 63 percent of all incentives were committed to local existing businesses.

When the government was in the process of closing the air base there was a lot of consternation and hand wringing. There were comments that Lubbock was going to become a ghost town.

Thanks to the foresight of many people, both in and out of elective office, and the leadership of Sitton and others, those dire predictions never came true.

In fact, Lubbock has been cited by economists for its ability to weather the economic storm by building a diversified economy that can withstand the wild swings of the national economy.

As far as becoming a ghost town, the city recently announced that its population had surpassed the 200,000 mark for the first time.

But economic development is only one area where Sitton can say Lubbock is better today than when she came on board.

Lubbock had been criticized by outsiders for not giving enough respect to rock 'n' roll singer Buddy Holly who was killed in an airplane crash early in his career. The city had a statue that paid tribute to the 1950s singer, but little else.

The mayor saw an opportunity to enhance Holly's image and improve Lubbock's tourism industry by developing a museum focusing on the life of the singer. Out of that vision came the Buddy Holly Center on 19th Street and Avenue G in 1999.

This center is still in its infancy and has many detractors. However, it pays tribute to Holly and his music and, hopefully, will become an attraction here similar to that of Elvis Presley's Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tenn.

On a more personal note, the mayor worked to promote openness at City Hall.

The former schoolteacher frequently expressed aggravation at what seemed to be unwillingness on the part of city bureaucrats to release information to the public through the media.

It was the mayor who finally took it upon herself several weeks after the tragic SWAT activity last summer to begin explaining what had occurred. Knowing how frank and open she can be, her lawyers must have been biting their fingernails.

She did fine.

The list of accomplishments that occurred during her almost eight years in elective office covered five typed pages of her statement. What's even more amazing is that the list of what she hopes to accomplish in the next three months was more than a page long.

Did the mayor make some mistakes during her time of leadership? There's no doubt that she did. However, when history looks back on the city's accomplishments during her days as mayor, she should be very near the top of the list of this community's leaders.

She's not leaving elected office forever, or even for very long. However, she's stepping down for a little while to be grandmother to Anne Marie Sitton, almost 3, and Peter Sitton, 1.

They couldn't have a better role model of community service and of perseverance.

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Randy Sanders is editor of The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. He can be contacted at 766-8751 or via e-mail at rsanders@lubbockonline.com